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Is there a yellow-breasted hummingbird (1 Viewer)

jackdins

Jack from Taxacola (formerly Pensacola), Florida
On March 18 and 19 multiple up-close sightings
were made by four sober people of a yellow-breasted
hummingbird, somewhat larger than our ruby-throated
variety. I have not been able to find anything even
remotely close in my books.

He visited the same feeder several times both days,
taking long drinks. The color was bright yellow but
my wife noted that it looked a little orange to her when
he turned sideways in the bright sunlight, but agrees it
was a bright yellow in direct sun.

I now have a camera ready but he did not show up yesterday
nor so far today, March 21.

Location: Pensacola, Florida

Any ideas???
 
Welcome to BirdForum!

Any hummer can get bright yellow on its breast if it visits flowers that get deposit pollen on it while feeding. I believe plants like Hibiscus are 'designed' to do this - long stamens that brush the hummer while it probes for nectar, then when it visits the next flower, some of the pollen rubs back off onto the (slightly sticky) stigma, to fertilise the seeds.

Obviously if it was clearly larger than Ruby-throat, it will be a different species though.

Michael
 
Male rufous hummingbird, which is being seen with more regularity in Florida, has a bright gorget that can be quite yellow (gold, really) and orange (and also green and even sometimes raspberry) depending on the angle of light hitting it. He can also be quite orangey on the belly and breast. But Michael's closer to the mark about how the pollen can really discolor the birds.

If I can coax my slide scanner into working this morning, I'll upload a shot of a rufous male, and also of a broad-tailed female with pollen on her forehead. The latter made me do a double-take when I first saw her -- I mean, what hummer has a yellow face like that?! :)
 
Sorry for the poor scan quality. These are severely cropped slides but they'll give you an idea...
 

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Never heard of one with a truly yellow breast. Even hypothesizing the deposit of yellow pollen, it wouldn't deposit on the breast as hummers don't normally have contact with the flowers except through the bill and head. I can only think of some screwy plumage variation of a known hummer.

Here's another link to see a photo (on the head) of the pollen deposit occurring during feeding.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=13354
 
Whether they get pollen on their breast or not will depend more on the structures of the flower, than the behaviour of the hummer - if the flower has very long stamens, it could happen. Something like e.g. this Epiphyllum:
http://www.mdougherty.com/100-THEPHOTOEXPERIENCE/130-FLORA-1/epiphyllum/images/03-flora1-epiphyllum-lila-pinksingle-1-03wildap2-bdr-frm-300pxlht-jpeg60.jpg
Or this one:
http://images1.fotki.com/v4/photos/2/20169/60603/Epiphyllum-vi.jpg
(flowers about 12-15cm/5-6" across)

Michael
 
I believe that Rufous with the pollen is what we
saw. Thank you all so much, I don't believe I've
ever had better response to a forum question. The
first answer came in just minutes after I posted
the question! This must be a popular spot for
bird watchers.

Jack from Pensacola
 
jackdins said:
I believe that Rufous with the pollen is what we
saw. Thank you all so much, I don't believe I've
ever had better response to a forum question. The
first answer came in just minutes after I posted
the question! This must be a popular spot for
bird watchers.

Jack from Pensacola

You,re right there,Jack..it is!
A warm welcome from the Moderators and Admin of Birdforum and we hope you continue to post on this site and enjoy the breadth of topics that are discussed here.
 
I saw one at the botanic garden in San Diego, California
I can't find anything on the web that is even remotely close.
I just posted photos in the bird identification section fyi.
 
On March 18 and 19 multiple up-close sightings
were made by four sober people of a yellow-breasted
hummingbird, somewhat larger than our ruby-throated
variety. I have not been able to find anything even
remotely close in my books.

He visited the same feeder several times both days,
taking long drinks. The color was bright yellow but
my wife noted that it looked a little orange to her when
he turned sideways in the bright sunlight, but agrees it
was a bright yellow in direct sun.

I now have a camera ready but he did not show up yesterday
nor so far today, March 21.

Location: Pensacola, Florida

Any ideas???
I had a hummer at my feeder yesterday that looked just like that. I was not quick enough to get a picture, but I’m watching for him. I am in southern Minnesota. May 12th
 
Usually what people think of as a yellow breasted hummingbird is actually a hummingbird with a lot of pollen on its chest. You could also find one with a pigment problem that could lead to a strange coloring. But as to an actual yellow-breasted hummingbird as a species in the US, I would think no.
 
I believe that Rufous with the pollen is what we
saw. Thank you all so much, I don't believe I've
ever had better response to a forum question. The
first answer came in just minutes after I posted
the question! This must be a popular spot for
bird watchers.

Jack from Pensacola
For what it's worth, Rufous are smaller than Ruby-throated and while increasing the past few decades is still, to my understanding at least, fairly scarce in Florida. Seems a great deal more likely that it was a pollen-covered Ruby-throated.
 

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